Mission

Sounds a bit dramatic, my ‘mission’, but I love acupuncture and I have witnessed many miracles. I want everyone to realise and understand the benefits of regular acupuncture. It is more than just a pain medicine, it is a full and complete health care system that is capable of restoring and then maintaining optimum health. It was left to us by ancient people who in many ways were more advanced than us, understanding the laws of nature and how man is inseparable from them. Not only that, but the philosophy survives to this day in its pristine purity with little lost in time.

Fifty years ago Stems and Branches Acupuncture came within a hair’s breadth of being permanently lost to the world, the communist government of China under Chairman Mao had introduced what is known as TCM (traditional chinese medicine), the Chinese government threatened Stems and Branches not least because its philosophy was based on ancient Taoist principles that were considered religious by Mao’s secular government. Of course the philosophy is not in any way religious, it is based on the Five elements which itself derives from yin yang theory. As a consequence the philosophy moved west.

In the sixties DR JD Van Buren had learned about Stems and Branches from many years study in the orient. He returned to Europe, founded a college in Holland, and started teaching these ancient principles. He dedicated his life to maintaining the knowledge in its pristine purity. Fifty years later there are Stems and Branches colleges in Holland, England, Israel, Finland and Sweden. I am one of a few thousand practitioners spread throughout Europe dedicated to keeping this style of Acupuncture alive. I play my part in the continuing renaissance of Stems and Branches, the most ancient style of Acupuncture in existence.